To discover how close the world came to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, readers can consult gripping firsthand accounts. Especially compelling are Robert F. Kennedy’s Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis (New York: W.W. Norton, 1969) and Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow’s (eds.) The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997). Scott D. Sagan’s The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) presents recently unearthed evidence of close brushes with accidental war during the crisis.

To better understand why some countries go nuclear, consult The Nuclear Tipping Point: Why States Reconsider Their Nuclear Choices (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), edited by Kurt M. Campbell, Robert J. Einhorn, and Mitchell B. Reiss. For a comprehensive look at policy options on nuclear weapons, see Universal Compliance: A Strategy for Nuclear Security (Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005), by George Perkovich, Jessica T. Mathews, Joseph Cirincione, Rose Gottemoeller, and Jon Wolfsthal.

For a cinematic treatment of lessons drawn from Robert McNamara’s tenure as secretary of defense, view the Academy Award-winning documentary film The Fog of War, directed by Errol Morris (Sony Pictures, 2003).

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